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Steno
Steno is a male human NPC in the Om campaign. Summary Steno is a soldier in the Gildornian Army who was part of a squad assigned to escort a civilian caravan from Waymere to a plot of land south of Dunkirk. He was present at Midway Inn during the mutiny and was given command of the caravan. He led it successfully through the potential crisis of inadvertently trespassing on sacred Kirathi caves, and all the way to the caravan’s new settlement: Fernstead. Steno remained in command of the Gildornian Soldiers in Fernstead. Background Steno was a soldier in the Gildornian Army holding the rank of Private First Class. He was considered to be an excellent soldier and was in line to receive an officer’s commission. Caravan Duty with the Royal Explorers On the 1st of Gatekeeper, 465, Steno was assigned to a squad under the command of Captain Hunter Brynan that was ordered to a squad of men and work with the Royal Explorers to escort a caravan of settlers from Waymere to a plot of land south of Dunkirk. In less than one day on the road, the caravan was attacked by an elf named Korroticus who left a mimic in the road and attacked when it was investigated. The Royal Explorers engaged the mimic and Korroticus, capturing the elf. After a brief conversation however, the elf cast a spell and flew away, suspiciously unchallenged by the Royal Explorers. Captain Brynan demanded an explanation and the Royal Explorers fairly unconvincingly stated that the elf was especially wily and escaped. Brynan was displeased and stated that he would be reporting the incident to his superiors. Murder at Midway On the 2nd of Gatekeeper, Captain Brynan ordered a hard march to get the caravan to the protection of Midway Inn for the night. The following morning Midway Inn’s resident cleric, Harn Bronzeaxe, was found murdered. Captain Brynan asked the Royal Explorers to look into the matter. Steno and the rest of the squad was ordered to work with the Brightblades, the local guards for Midway Inn, to lock the settlement down, disallowing anyone to enter or exit the structure to prevent the murderer from escaping. Meanwhile the Royal Explorers proceeded with the investigation. The initial culprit appeared to be a bard named Hibblepibb the Hilarious, but clues began to show that the commander of the Brightblades, First Rider Davin Firth, was the actual suspect. The culmination of the matter came when Firth, backed into a corner and about to be unveiled as the killer, managed to capture half of the Royal Explorers and convinced many of the Brightblades to attack the remainder, the caravan, Brynan and his men and the inn’s owner, Varis Dorn. Thankfully the captured Explorers managed to get a message of these plans out from the jail, allowing Fynnhanar to warn Brynan and Dorn who marshaled the Gildornian soldiers and loyal Brightblades. Naturally Steno was included in this force, and stood ready to maintain order. The resulting battle cost the lives of one of Steno’s fellows but was cut short when Fynn detonated a fireball in the midst of the Brightblades, killing all of them and severely wounding Firth. Firth surrendered immediately, and Brynan declared that the law said he should be taken to Waymere for trial. Varis Dorn ignored this command, however, and executed Davin Firth on the spot. Immediately after this Harn Bronzeaxe’s acolytes, led by Gryff Stonepusher, evidently completed a ritual in the temple of Morin that went awry and turned Gryff into a demonic beast that slew the rest of the acolytes, raising them as undead. The monsters burst forth from the temple, doing battle with Brynan’s men, Varis and remaining Brightblades, Anders Roth, and the Royal Explorers. The demon in Gryff’s body released a magical wave of fear, causing Steno to withdraw along the rest of his Squad mates and the Brightbaldes. Thankfully the creature was slain by the Royal Explorers, Captain Brynan and Anders Roth. In Command of the Caravan As a result of the chaos left at Midway Inn after Davin Firth’s failed mutiny, Captain Brynan explained that he and Wu Xen would need to remain behind to help put things in order. Further Brynan stated his intention to escort Varis Dorn to Waymere to answer for his inappropriate execution of Davin Firth. He left Steno in command of the Caravan, stating that Wu would catch up to them and ordering him to continue to work with the Royal Explorers and continue to escort the caravan to their destination. As ordered, Steno took command but barely a day out of Midway Inn a fierce storm struck the region. Steno ordered the caravan to take shelter in a nearby cave until the storm passed. Unfortunately five of the caravan’s children had gone to explore the caves and vanished and the parents refused to move on without them. The Royal Explorers went into the caves after the children, but after half a day they still had not returned. Worse, while the caravan waited at the caves for the explorers a group of Kirathi elves arrived, keeping their distance but maintaining a hostile posture. At that time Wu Xen caught up to the caravan and explained that he'd parlayed with the elves. Wu said he’d convinced the elves to agree to give the caravan until nightfall to vacate, or the elves would evacuate the settlers themselves. Wu stated that he would venture into the caves but ordered Steno to depart with everyone by nightfall no matter what. Steno was uneasy with these orders, stating his desire to leave a couple of his men behind for the protection of the Royal Explorers, but Wu declined, explaining that it would only inflame the elves further, and that the rest of the caravan would need their protection far more than the Explorers would. Steno obeyed Wu’s order and at nightfall, evacuated the caves even though there had been no sign of the Royal Explorers or the children. The children’s parents were reluctant to leave, but with little choice they followed Steno's ordered to do so. The caravan set up camp nearby to await word of their missing members. A couple hours after dark the Explorers returned, with the children in tow. The elves had invited the caravan to share their fire that night, though some of the members of the caravan were wary. The Royal Explorers were able to convince most of the reluctant settlers to take the elves up on their offer to set a good tone for the fledgling community's relationship with the local elves. The humans of the caravan attended the feast, sharing a meal with the elves. Founding of Fernstead The caravan finally reached Dunkirk on the 5th of Gatekeeper and after a brief stay to supply they headed south to their purchased plots of land. Steno took up duties with his company and acted as captain of the guard to the tiny community. Thanks to sizable contributions from Fernith and Wu Xen, the settlers found themselves in a superior financial situation than most colonists in their circumstances would be. To honor the generosity of Fern, who had purchased the majority of the plots of land for the settlers, they named their new community Fernstead. As a result of their financial stability when agents of Baron Webb approached the new town offering them unfavorable loans for grain and tools, the colonists were able to decline, funding their startup with the more coin that Wu and Fern had arranged for them or utilizing the loans at more favorable rates that they'd secured for them in Waymere. This angered the Baron, who began to spread rumors that the people of Fernstead were deviants, seditious and "elf lovers." The latter accusation apparently took hold because the community had agreed that good relations with the local elves was favorable and that elf and half-elf settlers would be welcome in their community, going so far as to sign a charter written by Fern that expressly said this. Category:Om Category:Characters Category:NPCs